"Oh, Brother Li has also made great efforts to ban smoking. Shen Baozhen nodded and said.

"That's nature. Li Xian smiled and took it.

However, things will definitely not be as simple as Li Xian said.

At the beginning, Li Xian had a large number of ships in Leizhou Bay, and his military strength was very huge, and the pirates around him were extremely afraid, and none of the fleets that entered and exited Leizhou could confront Li Xian's escort team head-on, even if the fleets of the three counties were combined.

Li Xian carried out anti-smoking activities in Leizhou, and ships that secretly possessed opium were of course heavily fined, but those who did not have opium had to be brought back to Donghai Island for careful search, and then stayed on the island for seven or eight days before they were released.

Leizhou has a large sugarcane planting area, and there is relatively little grain, and the grain that is lacking has to be transported by sea from Guangzhou and other places, so it relies heavily on sea transportation.

Even if we don't mention grain, if we want to sell sugar and other commodities in Leizhou, we have to rely on shipping in many cases, and we can't do it without shipping.

At this moment, the sugar merchants and grain merchants in Leizhou all woke up from a dream, and only then did they remember that Li Xian's Mixed Yuan Sect was not an ordinary businessman, but a military force with huge force, and if they wanted to blockade the shipping of Leizhou, they could do it completely.

During this period, it was not that no one wanted to rely on force to resist, but at most, these would contact some pirates to cause some trouble to the East China Sea Island, and with the strength of the Mixed Yuan Sect at that time, they really didn't care, all the pirates who came were eliminated as soon as possible, and even a few larger pirate dens were patronized by Li Xian and his troops, and they were uprooted.

At this time, almost all the pirates along the coast of Leizhou disappeared, and they either fled to other places, or were directly absorbed by Li Xian or secretly co-opted.

As for inviting the officers and soldiers to come out and administer justice, the officers and men were not as good as pirates when they broke ships, and the sailors were self-aware, so they immediately hid.

Several large trading houses and big households also thought about forming a fleet to eliminate Li Xian by themselves, but Li Xian had the status of a militia at that time, and he was considered a semi-official officer, and even if all these people were combined, they couldn't defeat the escort team at all, so they quickly dispelled the idea.

As a result, the grain and sugar stores in Leizhou could only succumb to the fact that they would no longer suppress the business of the Mixed Yuan Sect, and they would no longer resist everything from whale oil, soap to salted fish, but should actively sell them, so as not to anger Li Xian, a big pirate.

This work was done by Li Xian secretly during the period when he plundered British merchant ships, and he himself was only responsible for the formulation of the grand strategy, but the specific implementation was Xie Yingnan and Zhao Hujiang and others, but relying on strong force, he did a good job and laid a very solid foundation in Leizhou.

Shen Baozhen was not very clear about the details of this matter, but he knew that Leizhou boycotted the goods of the Mixed Yuan Sect at the beginning, and then ended it in a hurry, but he didn't understand what Li Xian's purpose was in mentioning this past.

Li Xian looked at Shen Baozhen's reaction, but secretly shook his head in his heart, this Qing Dynasty Shilin had despised businessmen for a long time, and he didn't understand the great significance of commerce to military and politics at all, or he refused to recognize this significance.

"I promoted the ban on smoking in Leizhou, and finally opened up the commodity market, which is also a bonus.

It's just that this business was originally a business for buyers and sellers to finalize with each other, and then exchange money and goods with each other, but unlike other places in our Qing Dynasty, the government was required to join in and interrogate, and there were various guilds, and there were too many troubles in it.

So, I thought of a way to set up a free trading market outside Xuwen County, so that buyers and sellers can trade goods freely, not limited to the goods of my mixed Yuan Sect, other merchants can also come and buy and sell goods freely, and there is no charge, only need to pay the land occupation fee.

Unexpectedly, this trick is very popular, whether it is Xuwen County or other county businessmen are very fond of this model, are willing to come over to cheer, so that the market is very prosperous, and the price of grain in the three counties of Leizhou has been reduced, and sugar merchants and medicinal herb merchants can also get benefits. Li Xian said.

"There are such things, Brother Li is a great talent. Shen Baozhen praised Li Xian on the surface, but in his heart he scolded the officials of Leizhou.

Guangzhou's policy has always been to inhibit the development of the Mixed Yuan Sect, and the officials in Leizhou actually allowed the Mixed Yuan Sect to open such a big market outside the county seat, which sounds like a large scale, and they have not revealed any rumors about the Guangzhou side, which is simply a bastard.

"In other words, Brother Li has opened this kind of market, and he thinks that it will be beneficial after doing it, so do you want to make it in the suburbs of Guangzhou?" Shen Baozhen asked, but he was puzzled in his heart, so he could explain some things, but why did he feel so unsteady, and felt that there must be other sinister intentions in it.

"Brother Shen was born in a family of eunuchs and has never been in contact with business, so he doesn't understand the hardships of doing business. Li Xian sighed and explained.

"If nothing else, let's just talk about this grain shop, most of the locals in Guangzhou are engaged in commerce, and the grain has to be transported from other places, so it is necessary to rely on foreign merchants to sell it from afar.

Originally, this foreign grain merchant went to Guangzhou and sold the grain directly to the people, and the money and goods were cleared, which was the simplest, and there were too many necessary links in the middle of the partial birth.

After the grain merchants from other places transport the grain over, they cannot sell it directly, they must report to the local dental store, which is fine, but the grain merchant requires the grain to be sold through the dental store, and even more outrageous is that the grain merchant must store the grain in the warehouse designated by the dental bank, otherwise he will not be qualified to sell.

As a result, in order to earn some preservation fees, the tooth bank asked the grain merchants from other places to store the grain in the warehouse of the tooth store for three to six months, and the original rice was still new, but it suddenly became old rice.

After this hurdle, the grain cannot be directly reached by the people, and the grain merchants in Guangzhou have to take over, and then, according to the requirements of the grain store, they can either only sell in the east or in the west, that is, they cannot flee the goods, otherwise they will be severely punished.

During this period, the filial piety of the various yamen, as well as the local merchants in Guangzhou, inevitably pressed the payment for the goods, and waited until a long period of time had passed after all the grain was sold, and then slowly settled the accounts to the grain merchants in other places, which was inevitable.

Originally, if there were a larger grain merchant who had a store in Guangzhou, and he went to other places to buy grain and sell it in his own store, it would have reduced a lot of links, but the imperial court was worried that the grain merchants would become bigger and the grain stores would not be able to manage it, so they actually joined forces to prohibit this kind of behavior, so that for hundreds of years they relied on foreign merchants to collect grain, and then in Guangzhou they were exploited by local grain merchants, yamen, and yamen.

Not to mention this, it is necessary to run the two rooms, and the businessmen must not be allowed to hire people by themselves, and must go through the foot line designated by the government, otherwise they will be dragged to the government to play the board, which will inevitably increase unnecessary expenses.

As a result, the grain could not be sold as quickly as it was brought in, and the grain merchants had to stay in Guangzhou for several months before they could be bought by the people, and the grain merchants had to pay a lot of taxes and fees, and they had to spend a lot of time dealing with various yamen and guilds, and the price of grain would inevitably be high and could not be lowered.

Brother Shen, I have said so much, do you understand?" Li Xian stopped talking and looked at Shen Baozhen sincerely.